Mobile phones rule the roost

SINGAPORE, 12 October 2011 – Asia’s travel market is growing steadily despite facing tougher market conditions and a global economic slowdown, says Abacus International in its latest report on trends issued yesterday.

Technology continues to be the key driver in boosting both travel agents’ business capabilities and user end-travel experience – a trend that looks set to grow well into 2012.

Wireless convergence and mobile innovation have played a pivotal role in this growth, as both travellers and travel managers are increasingly utilising this rising channel as a means to deliver and experience end-to-end solutions. This year, the number of mobile workers worldwide will exceed 1 billion and more than 50% of Fortune 500 companies will interact with their customers via mobile devices. Read more

Abacus launches TripPlan

SINGAPORE,  28 September 2011 – Abacus International announced, Tuesday, the launch of Abacus TripPlan, an integrated travel approval and management solution for the Asian enterprises.

Abacus TripPlan is designed for business travel within Asia Pacific and offers several features including a pre-travel approval process – a common practice among Asian corporations often implemented through a manual process or separate system.

The programme will streamline trip planning alerting supervisors automatically of new trip requests that they can then approve with a single-touch anytime, anywhere, through any device. Read more

In the clouds over computing

BANGKOK, 27 September 2011 – Cloud software gained the attention of delegates attending a Software Industry Promotion Agency seminar on how to build software applications and prepare for the ASEAN free market place in 2015.

Organised under the supervision of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, the seminar outlined the advantages of cloud software over the traditional programmes that are installed on PCs directly.

SIPA vice president, Prinya Krachangmol, said software companies in Thailand should recognise the importance of tourism and provide products to support its growth and cloud computing was the way to go. Read more

THAI partners with Abacus

BANGKOK, 27 September 2011 – Thai Airways announced Monday it has signed a partnership contract with Abacus that will offer travel agents a real-time link to the airline’s fare inventory.

Through Abacus Direct Connect the GDS connects its travel agency subscribers, worldwide, to THAI’s central reservation system without going through other systems.

Also, THAI will gain access to use the point-of-sale quota allocation and control the type of queries received from Abacus system, which gives THAI flexibility over flight inventory. Read more

Abacus meets in Almaty

Singapore, 23 September 2011 – Business leaders from around central Asia met to exchange notes on travel industry developments and to explore new business opportunities at the 1st Abacus Corporate Conference held Thursday in Almaty.

More than 200 participants were updated on latest topics such as the evolution and predictions of the corporate travel landscape, as well as lessons in travel procurement. Read more

Abacus JV in Laos up and running

VIENTIANE 15 September 2011 – Abacus International and Lao Airlines signed a joint venture contract, Wednesday, which will give the global distribution system exclusive access to the national airline’s fare inventory in landlocked Laos.

Abacus CEO Robert Bailey and Lao Airlines president, Somphone Douangdara, exchanged contracts at a ceremony in the Lao capital to establish an “exclusive” partnership just weeks ahead of the airline taking delivery of a new Airbus 320 that will be used to inaugurate a new service to Singapore.

Abacus and Lao Airlines are entering a business partnership that will run for an initial 10 years with an option to renew for another five years. Read more

Google launches Flight Search

SAN FRANCISCO, 15 September 2011 – Internet giant Google launched a flight search tool on Tuesday in a potential challenge to online travel services.

Flight Search is the first travel product from Google since its US$700 million acquisition of ITA Software earlier this year.

“Since then, our engineering teams have been working closely together to build new travel tools that provide faster, more flexible, and more useful results to online travel searches,” Google said in a blog post. Read more

Agoda goes Android

SINGAPORE, 12 September 2011 – Agoda will launch an Android application to aid customers who want to complete bookings using their mobile phones.

The Android application has all the features of the one released earlier for the iPhone, including immediate access to the entire hotel inventory and the ability to close the booking and pay for rooms.

Agoda claims it gives travellers access to 21,000 hotels and resorts in Asia alone. Read more

Amadeus tackles lost bag drama

BANGKOK, 8 September 2011 – Global GDS Amadeus is working with SITA, a specialist in air transport communications organisation, to offer real-time baggage tracking content in its Altéa solution.

Airlines need a more accurate tracing mechanism as they are facing rising costs dealing with lost baggage. Once the Amadeus solution is interfaced with SITA’s system it will give passengers updates on baggage and where it might be located after it fails to show up on the airport’s baggage belt.

Altéa Baggage Tracking taps SITA’s baggage messaging technology and incorporates into the Amadeus Altéa departure control features. Read more

Seen on a street in Bangkok

BANGKOK, 2 September 2011 – The Tourism Authority of Thailand announced, Thursday, a partnership with Google Thailand, that will tap into Google Map with Street Views,” one of the company’s most popular web features.

TAT together with Google Thailand introduced caravan cars to capture panoramic street views in Thailand on Thursday that will eventually provide content on Google Maps.

According to TAT marketing information technology director, Thapanee Kiatphaibool, the project will take around three years to complete. Read more

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